Events Calendar
View all events associated with the 170th Anniversary Celebration and C. Shelby Rooks Lecture.
The CTS campus is an active, vibrant community with a diverse schedule of events. Check out the calendar below, get involved and challenge yourself! Join the conversation.
Red – CTS Event Open to the Public
Purple – CTS/Bayan Student Event, Not Open to the Public
Green – CTS Internal Event
Blue – External Event Sponsored by CTS
october, 2025
01oct5:00 pm6:00 pmWednesday Gatherings5:00 pm - 6:00 pm CDT Zoom
Event Details
Living with daring faith in dangerous times takes courage, resilience, and vision. Join CTS President Dr. Brad Braxton for a timely conversation
Event Details
Living with daring faith in dangerous times takes courage, resilience, and vision. Join CTS President Dr. Brad Braxton for a timely conversation on faith, justice, and resilience — inspired by 170 years (and counting) of CTS’s legacy.
Join us: chicago-edu.zoom.us/j/95091295855
Time
(Wednesday) 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm CDT
Location
Zoom
08oct1:00 pm3:15 pm2nd Annual CTS-Bayan Emerging Scholars Symposium1:00 pm - 3:15 pm CST
Event Details
https://ctschicago-edu.zoom.us/s/99248684626 We are excited to announce our 2nd Annual CTS Bayan Emerging Scholars Symposium. The symposium will take place on Wednesday, October 8 from
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Event Details
The symposium will take place on Wednesday, October 8 from 1:00-2:30 pm Central. It will be hybrid (online and on campus). In person lunch starts at 1:00 pm and the Symposium will start at 1:15 pm CT.
2025 student scholars presenting:
Faculty from CTS and Bayan will host the event.
https://ctschicago-edu.zoom.us/s/99248684626
Time
(Wednesday) 1:00 pm - 3:15 pm
08oct6:30 pm8:30 pmBuilding New TablesQueering Womanist & Feminist Preaching6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Event Details
Join Chicago Theological Seminary in partnership with The Gathering, A Womanist Church for Building New Tables: A Womanist-Feminist Preaching Dialogue Colloquy,
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Event Details
Join Chicago Theological Seminary in partnership with The Gathering, A Womanist Church for Building New Tables: A Womanist-Feminist Preaching Dialogue Colloquy, exploring Preaching as Public Address. This powerful event brings together Rev. Dr. Nicole McDonald, Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz, Rev. Dr. Ebony D. Only, and Rev. Elle Dowd in conversation on how preaching addresses culture, trauma, and community transformation. Featuring presentations, panel dialogue, tag-team preaching, and audience engagement, the colloquy creates space to reflect on the role of proclamation in shaping justice and hope.
October 8th, 6:30–8:30 pm CST | In-person & Zoom | Chicago Theological Seminary.
This event is part of the Building New Tables: Queering Womanist Preaching Lilly Foundation Compelling Preaching Initiative.
Join Zoom Meeting
Time
(Wednesday) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Event Details
Join us on October 9, 2025, for our 170th Anniversary Celebration and C. Shelby Rooks Lecture with Rev. Dr. Eric Williams! For 170
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Event Details
Join us on October 9, 2025, for our 170th Anniversary Celebration and C. Shelby Rooks Lecture with Rev. Dr. Eric Williams!
For 170 years, Chicago Theological Seminary has equipped bold leaders to live out a daring faith—one that is willing to disrupt injustice, challenge convention, and nurture hope in dangerous times. This year’s Rooks Lecture explores “Daring Faith in Dangerous Times”—examining how institutions preserve truth and foster genuine dialogue when division threatens our communities.
Save October 9, 2025, for our C. Shelby Rooks Lecture, as we mark a monumental legacy—bold, unshaken, and still rising.
Schedule:
5:30 Reception, Building & Art Tours
6:30 Presidential Welcome, Short Program
7:30 C. Shelby Rooks Lecture & Award, “What Our Hands Have Handled”: The Bible as Material Witness in African American Religious Culture — Join the Zoom: ctschicago-edu.zoom.us/j/97293499187
About the Speaker
Eric Lewis Williams is the director of the Office of Black Church Studies and assistant professor of theology and Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School. He previously served as curator of religion for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and lead researcher in the Center for the Study of African American Religious Life.
Williams earned his Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He is an alumnus of Duke Divinity School, earning his M.Div. in 2005, and he is also a graduate of McCormick Theological Seminary (M.A.T.S.), and the University of Illinois at Chicago (B.A.). He is an ordained minister in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), and in addition to his active congregational participation and frequent preaching invitations, he has worked closely with the COGIC Scholars’ Fellowship to stimulate academic scholarship among COGIC members.
At the Smithsonian, Williams curated the museum’s first exhibition devoted solely to religion, “Spirit in the Dark: Religion in Black Music, Activism, and Popular Culture.” His current research examines the many ways that religious beliefs and cultural practices of African peoples in the West have helped to shape their moral development, political aspirations, and social engagement. His teaching and research, with a foundation in the disciplines of American religious history and Black Christian thought, has explored interdisciplinary theological approaches to both learning opportunities and program development.
Time
(Thursday) 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm
15oct4:00 pmVictor Obenhaus Lecture4:00 pm CST Room 217, 1407 E 60th Street
Event Details
"Dark Night of the Soul: Lessons from a Psalmist and Two Saints" PhD Student Cornelius Shaw Wednesday, October 15, 2025 - 4:00 p.m. Central time Hybrid - @CTS in the Aloha Room and
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Event Details
https://ctschicago-edu.zoom.us/j/98325818278
Cornelius Shaw is a PhD student at Chicago Theological Seminary. His concentration is science, religion, and culture. He holds a bachelor’s degree in ministry leadership from Cornerstone University and a master’s degree in theological studies from Anderson University School of Theology. As a spoken word poet and frequent speaker, Cornelius brings a unique blend of lived experiences and academic rigor to any scholarly conversation. With a deep respect for historical context and modern applications, he offers a compassionate and insightful approach to understanding one of life’s most challenging phases: the dark night of the soul.
Time
(Wednesday) 4:00 pm CST
Location
Room 217
1407 E 60th Street